Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde)

Mastermind
File:Classicx31.png Mastermind with Phoenix. Artist, Steve Lightle.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men volume 1 #4 (March 1964)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Jason Wyngarde
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	Brotherhood of Evil Mutants Factor Three Hellfire Club
Abilities	Illusion generation

For other uses, see Mastermind.

Mastermind was a Marvel Comics supervillain, an adversary of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men #4 (March 1964).

The original Mastermind was Jason Wyngarde, a mutant with the power to create complex telepathic illusions. He was a founding member of the first Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and later a probational member of the Lords Cardinal of the Hellfire Club, where he played an important role in the “Dark Phoenix Saga.”

After Wyngarde's death from the Legacy Virus, his two daughters appeared, possessing their father’s illusion-creating abilities. One now uses his codename and the other is known as Lady Mastermind.

Character history

The original Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde) was a mutant with the ability to generate telepathic illusions. He first appeared in X-Men Volume 1 #4 (March 1964) and was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He was originally a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

With Mastermind's help, the Brotherhood was able to take over a South American country, with an illusion of thousands of soldiers. After the Brotherhood's defeat by the X-Men, the group attempted to lure the Stranger to their cause. The Stranger, being an enigmatic cosmic entity, instead of a mutant, turned Mastermind into stone.

After the spell wore off, Jason joined Factor Three, an organization that attempted to take over the world. Factor Three eventually disbanded when their leader turned out to be an alien, instead of a mutant. Former members of Factor Three, Blob and Unus, joined with Jason to reform the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

This new brotherhood was looking for new recruits. Mastermind attempted to recruit Beast to his group, but ultimately failed. Magneto returned to the group to resume his leadership and created Alpha, the ultimate mutant. This new creation of Magneto's turned the entire team into infants, including his master.

After being restored to adulthood, Mastermind became involved with the Hellfire Club during the famous "Dark Phoenix Saga," in which he was largely responsible for turning Phoenix into Dark Phoenix. He did this through the use of his own powers and a mindtap mechanism created by Emma Frost, which he used to project his illusion directly into her mind, causing her to believe she was re-living the life of one of her ancestors. Through this mental seduction, he eventually turned her against the X-Men, inducting her into the Hellfire Club as their Black Queen. Cyclops attempted to free the Phoenix in a duel with Mastermind on the Astral Plane, but was soundly defeated when Mastermind "killed" him during the fight, which Cyclops barely survived. But instead of binding the Phoenix to him forever, as Mastermind had hoped, the shock of Scott's psychic "death" broke her free from his control. Enraged at what he had done to her, the Phoenix reached into his mind and expanded his consciousness, literally making him one with the universe. This experience flooded his mind with images of the cosmos and left him catatonic.

When Mastermind was able to regain his sanity, he sought revenge on everyone that caused him pain. He gave the final nudge to Rogue towards leaving Mystique for the X-Men through subtly manipulating Rogue's rapidly deteriorating mental state, while at the same time inflicting nightmares on Mystique. He interfered with the engagement of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor and the wedding of Wolverine and Mariko Yashida; although the former couple were subsequently married, the latter were not. Cyclops uncovered Mastermind's plot to trick the X-Men into believing that Pryor was the reincarnation of Phoenix and defeated Mastermind in a battle in the X-Mansion in which he had used illusion to manipulate the other X-Men into attacking Cyclops. Jason later sought the power of the Phoenix Force, but this time he had to face Rachel Summers and Excalibur; he was defeated.

Mastermind later died of the Legacy Virus, but before he succumbed, he asked Jean Grey's forgiveness for what he had done to her, unaware she had never truly been Phoenix. Nevertheless, she did forgive him, and he died at peace.

Mastermind was later revealed to have two daughters who both inherited his mutant power (Mastermind (Martinique Jason) and Lady Mastermind).

Template:Spoiler-about Mastermind was just recently revealed to have manipulated the Sentry under orders from the mysterious "General", when he was still alive.

Alternate Versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse, Jason Wyngarde was one of the many victims of Apocalypse's regime. He was a victim of the experiments of a time-travelling Sugar Man, which left him mute, though he was rescued by a time-travelling X-Man, as well as Forge and Magneto. Years later, he joined Forge's Outcasts, a resistance cell travelling under the cover of a theater troupe. He was ultimately killed by the bounty hunter Domino.

Ultimate Mastermind

File:Ultimatemastermind.JPG

Ultimate Mastermind. Art by Tom Raney.

Mastermind has also appeared in the Ultimate Universe. His look, however, has changed drastically. While 616 Wyngarde used to be of average build, with cropped black hair and long sideburns, Ultimate Mastermind is lanky and white-haired, sports sunglasses and ponytail and looks like a beatnik. Here too he appeared as a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. Currently he has taken Mystique's work to pose as Magneto in the S.H.I.E.L.D. prison, though with the company of his girlfriend Stacy.

Powers and abilities

Mastermind's mutant powers are of illusion casting. He can psionically cause other people to see, hear, touch, smell, and/or taste things that don't exist. For this to work, these people have to be within a range of his powers. He is capable of affecting even telepaths as powerful as Professor Xavier and Jean Grey, although he required an amplifying device to manipulate Dark Phoenix.

Jason Wyngarde was an slight man with matted grey hair. He frequently used his illusory powers to assume the appearance of a younger, more handsome man. In his favorite disguise, he sported Victorian era style whiskers.

Appearances in other media

Mastermind made a cameo in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends on a TV monitor, when Magneto is demanding for The Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants to be freed from prison (episode "The Prison Plot"). He projects illusions of: Mephisto, Psyklop, Annihilus, and Zarathos/Ghost Rider.

He appears with The Inner Circle/Hellfire Club in X-Men The Animated Series episode, The Dark Phoenix Saga parts 1-3. Wyngarde is also a member of the Mutant Resistance in the alternate reality shown in the first part of the episode One Man's Worth.

In the animated series X-Men: Evolution, Mastermind (voiced by Campbell Lane) appears as an occasional lackey of Magneto. Despite often being bullied by Magneto, he seems to respect him to a point, and though he is hinted to be a shady character when left to his own devices, he is not particularly malicious. His most notable act was altering the memories of Magneto's daughter, Scarlet Witch.

X2: X-Men United

A character similar to Mastermind appears in X2: X-Men United. He was the son of mutant-biased William Stryker, and briefly a student of Charles Xavier. Even though Jason Stryker was a mutant, he hated his condition. Blaming his parents, Jason tortured them by creating visions in their minds, eventually driving his mother to suicide. His father retaliated by having him lobotomized, causing him to become more docile. William discovered that a chemical secreted by Jason's brain could be used as a mind-control serum. He had a tap device implanted into his son's spine, and used the fluid to force certain mutants (such as Deathstrike and Nightcrawler) into his service. William later developed a plan to destroy all mutants using a reproduction of Cerebro. Jason was to use his powers to trick a captured Xavier into using the machine to locate all of the world's mutants, then concentrating on them hard enough to kill them. The plan was interrupted by Magneto and Mystique. Magneto reassembled Cerebro to locate humans instead of mutants, then Mystique, disguised as William, informed Jason of the "change of plans". This too, however, was interrupted by Storm and Nightcrawler, who rescued Xavier and foiled Magneto's plan. As the room began to collapse, Xavier, Nightcrawler, and Storm escaped, and Jason was presumed dead.

In the X-Men: The Official Game, Jason taunts Nightcrawler saying that he left him to die. Jason later in the game tells Nightcrawler that there is an evil version of him at Alkali Lake too. He then helps Nightcrawler to destroy the Sentinels.

Trivia

British actor Peter Wyngarde as Jason King.

• The visual appearance of Jason Wyngarde was originally based by artist John Byrne on that of British actor Peter Wyngarde, who played the leader of the Hellfire Club in an episode of The Avengers. Peter Wyngarde is best known for playing Jason King, whose character visually resembles that of Jason Wyngarde a great deal.

Bibliography

List of titles

• Amazing Adventures Vol. 2 #12-13
• Avengers Vol. 1 #103
• Defenders Vol. 1 #15-16
• Excalibur Vol. 1 #26
• Incredible Hulk Vol. 1 #174
• Journey Into Mystery Vol. 1 #109
• New Avengers #9-10
• Uncanny X-Men #4-8, 11, 37-39, 59-60, 122, 125-126, 129-130, 132-134, 172-175
• Uncanny X-Men Annual #17
• X-Men Unlimited Vol. 1 #33

Significant stories

• Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 (1993, Marvel Comics) - On his deathbed, Mastermind asks for Jean Grey forgiveness.

See also

• List of fictional characters who can create illusions

External Links

• Mastermind on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki